Koraga language

Koraga (also rendered Koragar, Koragara, Korangi) is a Dravidian language spoken by the Koraga people, a Scheduled tribe people of Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, and Kerala in South West India. The dialect spoken by the Koraga tribe in Kerala, Mudu Koraga, is divergent enough to not be intelligible with Korra Koraga.[2]

Koraga
ಕೊರಗ
Native toIndia
EthnicityKoraga
Native speakers
45-50 (2018)[1]
Dravidian
Kannada script, Malayalam script
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
kfd – Korra Koraga
vmd – Mudu Koraga
Glottologkora1289

Classification

edit

Koraga is a member of the Dravidian family of languages.[3][4] It is further classified into the Southern Dravidian family. Koraga is a spoken language and generally not written, whenever it is written it makes use of Kannada script. Koraga people are generally conversant in Tulu[5] and Kannada languages and hence use those languages as a medium for producing literature.

Dialects

edit

According to Bhat, there are 4 dialects:[2]

All the speakers who speak Mudu dialect are bilingual with Kannada language and all speaking onti dialect are bilingual with Tulu language.[2] This has resulted a strong influence of Kannada on Mudu koraga and also similar influence of Tulu is seen on onti koraga dialect.[6] Majority of negative forms of onti koraga language are borrowed from Tulu language.[7]

Phonology

edit

Vowels

edit
Vowels[8]
FrontCentralBack
shortlongshortlongshortlong
Highiɨu
Mideo
Lowa

Consonants

edit
Consonants[8]
BilabialDental/
Alveolar
RetroflexPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnŋ
Stopvoicelessptʈck
voicedbdɖɟg
Fricatives
Approximantʋlj
Rhoticr

References

edit
  1. ^ "Gondi, Walmiki, Malhar, Korga: Mother tongues India risks losing". Hindustan Times. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Bhat (1971), p. 2.
  3. ^ Fairservis, Walter Ashlin (1997). The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing: A Model for the Decipherment of the Indus Script. Asian Studies. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 16. ISBN 978-90-04-09066-8.
  4. ^ Stassen, Leon (1997). Intransitive Predication. Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory. Oxford University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-19-925893-2.
  5. ^ Bhat (1971), p. 4.
  6. ^ Bhat (1971), pp. 2, 4.
  7. ^ Bhat (1971), p. 45.
  8. ^ a b Krishnamurti (2003), p. 68.

Bibliography

edit
  • Bhat, D. N. Shankara (1971). The Koraga Language. Pune: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.
  • Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77111-5.
edit